Archive for October 27th, 2010

Tareq Aziz Sentenced to Death Iraq’s high tribunal on Tuesday passed a death sentence on Tareq Aziz, once the international face of dictator Saddam Hussein’s regime, for the persecution of Islamic parties. The death sentence was the first to be handed down to Aziz, who rose to prominence at the time of Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait and the 1991 Gulf War when he was foreign minister.

Miller tried to avoid saying whether he believes homosexuality is a choice, confusingly stating, “I think that’s up to the individual. The individual has to make that decision.”

“About whether or not they’re gay, or about whether or not they believe that?” Maddow asked. Miller followed-up with a long pause, and then responded, “I’m not going to intrude upon an individual’s decision as to what he or she does. The fact of the matter is it’s a state issue.“

It’s a state issue — but he later tells Maddow that he would vote for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.

If you have any desire to know how your non-budget reported tax dollars have gone in our awesome infinite — perhaps infinite — War on a Noun, you sir and/or madam, are no patriot.

No, the Pentagon will have you know it’s all gone splendidly, as usual!

An intense military campaign aimed at crippling the Taliban has so far failed to inflict more than fleeting setbacks on the insurgency or put meaningful pressure on its leaders to seek peace, according to U.S. military and intelligence officials citing the latest assessments of the war in Afghanistan.

The High Price of Patriotism It’s over for the U.S. in Afghanistan, but that doesn’t mean the death and destruction are about to stop. Quagmires don’t just go away. However, the signs are everywhere that the American course in that nation is doomed.

By Robert Scheer

It’s over for the U.S. in Afghanistan, but that doesn’t mean the death and destruction are about to stop. Quagmires don’t just go away. However, the signs are everywhere that the American course in that nation is doomed.

One of Fox News’ purportedly objective news programs reported the false claim that Mi Familia Vota submitted 3,000 “shady” voter registrations at the “last minute” in Arizona to benefit the Democratic Party. The fake story originated from an Arizona blogger who has a history of making questionable statements, and was denounced as false by the Yuma County Recorder’s Office.

Blogger’s false claim jumps from Malkin to Fox News

Publius Pundit claims Mi Familia Vota is “committing voter fraud in Yuma County.” In an October 21 documented pattern of delivering news reports based on Internet rumors that turn out to be false. In January 2007, after Doocy retracted his falseassertion that President Obama “was educated in a madrassa,” then-Fox News’ vice president for news, John Moody, reportedly said in a memo to Fox News staff: “For the record: seeing an item on a website does not mean it is right. Nor does it mean it is ready for air on FNC. The urgent queue is our way of communicating information that is air-worthy. Please adhere to this.”

Fox, right-wing blogs snared by satire post about a global warming activist freezing to death. Fox Nation, Hoft, Ace of Spades, and JammieWearingFool all hyped a March 29 EcoEnquirer.com report that “Famed global warming activist James Schneider and a journalist friend were both found frozen to death on Saturday, about 90 miles from South Pole Station.” EcoEnquirer.com is a satire site, which at the time featured “Breaking News” about the successful 2027 Bali global warming conference. Other EcoEnquirer.com stories include “U.S.-Canada Border Conflict Continues” and “EPA to Mandate Reductions in Emissions from Volcanoes.”

Right-wing smear machine falls for fake Obama quote labeled as “satire.”An August 25, 2009, post to the blog Jumping In Pools reported that in Obama’s college thesis — which the post’s author claimed had been obtained by Time‘s Joe Klein — Obama attacked the Founders and the Constitution. The post included no evidence and was tagged as “satire.” Nonetheless, right-wing media including Pajamas Media blogger Michael Ledeen, Fox Nation,American Thinker’s Denis Keohane, Pamela Geller, Lou Dobbs, and Rush Limbaugh all trumpeted the story as if it were true. After Klein stated that the report was “completely false” and that he had “never seen Obama’s thesis,” Limbaugh acknowledged that the Obama quotes may be “made up,” and Ledeen apologized for falling for “a hoax, or a satire.”

Right-wing media adopt “insane conspiracy theory” that Obama lied about attending daughter’s soccer game. On April 13, American Thinker’s Cat Corbern reported that Obama “may have been lying about attending his daughter’s soccer game last weekend,” claiming that the game “didn’t exist” because “there were no scheduled soccer games for Sidwell Friends April 10.” Limbaugh, Ed Morrissey at Hot Air, Confederate Yankee, and Don Surber all ran with the story. CBS’ Mark Knoller subsequently reported that “a CBS colleague happened to be at the soccer game on his own & saw the Obamas there,” while ABC’s Jake Tapper reported that “many ppl saw POTUS at daughter’s soccer game at ft reno park soccer field” and criticized the “insane conspiracy theory.” Even after the story had been debunked, Breitbart’s Big Journalism reported that “The inquiring minds in the media suddenly don’t care much that the president ‘dissed’ them and that there was no soccer game scheduled and it certainly would not have been at the address given by the presidential staff.”

Right-wing media apply quote about Obama inauguration crowd size to tea party rally. Following the September 12 tea party rally,several conservative blogs quoted National Park Service spokesman “Dan Bana” as saying the protest was “the largest event held in Washington, D.C., ever.” In fact, the spokesman, whose actual name is David Barna, used that quote to describe President Obama’s inauguration.

Following Free Republic, Drudge’s lead, conservative media run with Obama photo that doesn’t show what they claim. After a Free Republic member posted a Reuters photo of President Obama and French President Nicolas Sarkozy at the 2009 G8 Conference, Matt Drudge promoted the same photo by suggesting Obama was inappropriately leering a young girl. Subsequently, Fox News and the New York Postfollowed their lead, highlighting the photo online and on screen, in some cases with provocative, needling, or scolding commentary, suggesting that Obama had ogled the girl. But a review of the video, which the media promoting the photo either did not watch or did not allow to give pause, makes clear that Obama was attempting to navigate high steps while reaching back to help someone behind him do so as well. As Fox News host Greta Van Susteren said after airing video of the event, “Yes, a still picture can lie. And this one does.”

Breitbart burns right-wing media with false claim of Community Organizers Pray[ing] TO” Obama. On September 29, 2009, Andrew Breitbart’s Breitbart.tv embedded a video with the headline “Shock Discovery: Community Organizers Pray TO President-Elect Obama.” The video included captions such as “Deliver Us Obama” and “Hear Our Cry Obama,” suggesting that the crowd was “pray[ing]” to Obama. Beck, Dobbs, and numerous right-wing blogs including Malkin, Morrisey, Hoft, and Geller subsequently ran with Breitbart’s story. Breitbart.tv later “updated” the post with “the longer version of the original event” — a video that did not include the captions — and added an editor’s note acknowledging that “there is a debate over what is actually being said” and that the crowd may, in fact, be saying, “Oh God,” rather than “Obama.”

Fox Nation, Drudge Report, CNS distortion: White House requested “Jesus” be hidden during speech. The Fox Nation and the Drudge Report advanced an April 15, 2009, CNSNews.com article claiming the White House requested that Georgetown University “hide ‘Jesus’ ” during a speech there by President Obama. However, as the CNS article noted, the White House requested “all signs and symbols” on the stage — not solely the name of Jesus — be covered.

Claim that alleged bomber is a registered Democrat collapsed — after Limbaugh boosted it. In a May 4 post, RightPundits.com reported that alleged Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad was a registered Democrat, citing no evidence. Hoft and Limbaugh quickly forwarded the claim. On May 5, Media Matters contacted the offices of the registrar in Shahzad’s hometowns and confirmed that he is, in fact, not a registered voter in those towns.

Fox & Friends forwards Hoft’s debunked suggestion that NAACP president was in attendance at Sherrod speech. On July 21, Jim Hoft claimed that NAACP president “may have been at” the speech by Sherrod in which she made statements that were taken out of context to smear her as a racist, based on Sherrod’s reference during the speech to “The President who is with us tonight.”Media Matters Senior Fellow Eric Boehlert contacted the NAACP and received confirmation from two national NAACP officials that Jealous “wasn’t there.” That evening, Hal Pressley, the president of the local Georgia NAACP chapter confirmed to CNNthat he was in attendance during Sherrod’s speech.The next day, Fox & Friends guest host Juliet Huddy nonetheless falsely suggested that Jealous “was supposedly there” at the speech.

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Records Show Miller Admitted Lying Alaksa U.S. Senate candidate Joe Miller (R) admitted in 2008 that he lied after being caught using Fairbanks North Star Borough computers for political purposes while he was working as a part-time borough lawyer, the Anchorage Daily News reports.

In an email from his employee records, Miller wrote, “I lied about accessing all of the computers. I then admitted about accessing the computers, but lied about what I was doing. Finally, I admitted what I did.”

“During the campaign, Miller first refused to answer questions from reporters about it, then acknowledged he had been disciplined. He’s refused to discuss the details, however and won’t agree to an interview with the Daily News.”

Said pollster Tim Hibbitts: “What it tells me is it’s a very close race. It has been a very close race for four and a half months. If the next poll comes up with Kitzhaber up by a point or two, I will not be surprised.”

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It’s Time for a “Telecom Act” for Clean Energy In 1973, Motorola demonstrated the world’s first cell phone, weighing in at close to four and a half pounds[1]. It was not introduced into the U.S. until 1983, and after slow growth at first, over the course of just ten…

They are Calling Out for Bill Clinton’s Magic Last night, I got to talk to and briefly hang with former President of the United States Bill Clinton (along with 400 other folks) who temporarily paused his “rejuvenation tour” for beleaguered Democratic Party friends in Congress and the Senate….

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MoveOn Activost Head-Stomper Identified As Rand Paul Campaign Coordinator The man who helped tackle a MoveOn.org activist to the ground and stomped on her head last night has been identified as Tim Profitt, a volunteer campaign coordinator for Kentucky GOP Senate nominee Rand Paul. Profitt apologized for attacking activist Lauren Valle, but told the AP “that the camera angle made the scuffle Monday night […]

The man who helped tackle a MoveOn.org activist to the ground and stomped on her head last night has been identified as Tim Profitt, a volunteer campaign coordinator for Kentucky GOP Senate nominee Rand Paul. Profitt apologized for attacking activist Lauren Valle, but told the AP “that the camera angle made the scuffle Monday night appear worse that it was.” “I’m sorry that it came to that, and I apologize if it appeared overly forceful, but I was concerned about Rand’s safety,” Profitt said.

The Paul campaign has cut ties with Profitt, “removing him from his role as Bourbon County campaign coordinator and banning him from campaign events.” Commenting on the campaign’s dissociation from Profitt, Fox News host Shep Smith said, “I suppose if that’s the worse that happens to you after you make a conscious decision to step on a woman, then you’ve probably come out pretty well” Watch it:

The Lexington police report that Profitt is “currently being served with a criminal summons,” though no arrests have been made. And despite the Paul campaign’s claim that Valle was “not injured,” MoveOn reports that she “suffered a concussion and sprains to her shoulder and arm as a result of the stomping.”

Profitt passed some blame onto police, saying “A friend of mine went up to three policeman before Rand got there, and told them about the girl who was standing there with that wig on [Valle] and that she was getting ready to do something.” Indeed, Valle told TPM, “The Rand Paul campaign knows me and they have expressed their distaste for my work before.” She said five men “surrounded” her before the incident, telling Valle and her partner that they were “here to do crowd control and we might have to take someone out.”

Blogger Sandi Behrns tweeted an undated photo of Paul with Profitt (above right). And ironically, as local blog Barefoot & Progressive observed, Profitt was among a group of Republicans who took out a full page ad today in the Lexington Herald Leader showing their support for Paul:

Profitt’s accomplice, who held Valle down while he stepped on her head, has been identified as tea party activist Mike Pezzano. Gawker reports Pezzano “belongs to Lexington’s Rand Paul Meetup group and is an “assistant organizer” for Kentucky Open Carry, a group that wants to make it legal to carry firearms openly and in public.”

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The Hollywood Liberal started in 2004 at the height of the Bush Administration madness in America.
We were inspired by the late great Bartcop.com. The very first thing I did when the site started was to get arrested at the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York. My arrest at the start of a march from The World Trade Center was later ruled unconstitutional by a federal judge. On New Years Eve 2014 the case was finally settled, with a judge awarding a class action suit that I was part of over $26 Million. I posted daily on the blog up until the end of The Bush error, and the site is now run as a history of the whole fiasco. Feel free to browse the old postings, pictures, & comics (an HL favorite) It reveals the twisted history of the times. Thanks H.L.